Finding time to quilt every day

It’s fall, and that means spending more time in a classroom than at my sewing machine.

I teach journalism and advise the student newspaper at my alma mater. We’re not talking going back to school after a summer off. We’re talking about working eight or nine hours at my main job at an ad agency, and then heading over to the college for three or four hours almost every day of the week.

I love working with the students. It makes me feel like I’m really making a difference. But I do miss having my evenings free to quilt, especially since I’m so close to finishing my maple leaf log cabin quilt.

I’ve been trying to get a little quilting in everyday, that way I can continue to make progress on my projects, even if it is slow. Plus, quilting is my way of relaxing in an otherwise packed schedule.

I decided not to make 80 more maple leafs for the final border and instead sew three borders each
1 1/2″ wide, sewn on in a log cabin fashion. I really like the way it looks, but even that is slow going. I’m basically, attaching 12, 98″ to 105″ borders. It is tedious, but it is worth it.

I’ve got six sewn on so far, with six left to go. If I continue at this pace, I’ll have the quilt top done and ready for the big reveal this weekend. That means I just might have it on my bed yet this fall, which is a pretty good record for me when it comes to finishing a large quilt quickly.

How do you fit quilting in to your busy life?